300126 International Organizations (S) (SoSe 2023)

International organizations (IOs) are central institutions in the contemporary world society. Although the first IOs go back as far as the 19th century, it was not until the period following the World War II that their numbers started to grow exponentially, accompanied by an ever-increasing importance in international and national affairs. Today there are thousands governmental and non-governmental IOs. They vary in structure, goals, size, function, and not least the influence they have in global and transnational governance. Some of them, such as the United Nations (UN), are a recognized authority on a broad range of issues, from human rights to global health to peacekeeping among nations, and beyond. Others, such as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, although also present world over, have a more focused mission and play a different kind of role compared to that of the UN. The world as we know it today would be virtually unimaginable without these and many other IOs, which is why it is important that we have a better understanding of what they are and what they do.

In this course, we are going to delve deeper into international organizations as a particularly ubiquitous phenomenon in the modern world: their origin(s), types, functions, dynamics, complexities, importance, as well as some tensions that characterize and surround them. Some of the questions guiding the discussions will be: What are international organizations? Why do they exist? Why and how do they matter? What role do they play in global governance? How influential are they on national policies and politics? But also: What is the difference between different kinds of IOs, for example, the United Nations and Greenpeace? Or between FIFA and International Monetary Fund? What are the similarities between them? Together, we will further ask: How can sociology help us make sense of these questions? What kind of theoretical and methodological tools can we use to learn more about international organizations? And so on.

The language of the seminar is English. Syllabus and readings will be made available via Lernraum before the introductory seminar (which will take place on April 3).